Wall Street's outlook for major cargo carriers is becoming increasingly positive. The reason? Poor service from freight forwarders and airlines due to constrained domestic capacity, according to Gruntal&Co. analyst Steve Lewins. He improved his rating of FedEx last week and said UPS also has positive long-term prospects.
Flight Path by Jan Blais. A novel about the fight for survival of a major airline and a commuter carrier in the early days of deregulation. Highpoint Press; $22.95 hard cover. To order, call 800-507-BOOK.
Lufthansa Technik will maintain and overhaul V2500-D5 engines for SAS under a contract signed Nov. 22 in Hamburg. LHT has experience with the V2500- A5. The SAS engines power eight MD-90s the carrier has on order.
Delta's successful launch of Delta Express, improved operating statistics, record boardings and all-around rosy financial picture has caught the attention of Wall Street analysts. Bankers Trust Research analysts, visiting Delta management recently in Atlanta, said they noticed a "general level of enthusiasm and energy turned up several notches." They said they expect Delta, one of their favorite plays among the majors, to earn $1.50 in the December quarter, $9.50 for the calendar year 1996 and $11 in calendar 1997.
Pakistan is the newest customer for the Indonesian-made N-250 turboprop fly-by-wire aircraft with a recent order for 15 aircraft. Other foreign orders to date have come from Colombia, four, and Sweden, 12, said N-250 manufacturer PT Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN). Potential customers in five other countries - the U.S., Turkey, Burkina Faso, Argentina and Saudi Arabia - have expressed interest in the N-250 but have not placed firm orders. The U.S. FAA is currently holding talks with Indonesian authorities for the certification of the N-250.
Five airlines attempting to block the planned expansion of Miami Airport say their complaint is not with an equalized ratemaking methodology used to assess fees at the airport, but with the projects included in the plan. The airlines - Air Canada, Delta, TWA, United and USAir - recently filed a Part 13 complaint with FAA seeking a determination of the reasonableness of the increased fees that would result from the roughly $4 billion capital improvement program (CIP) that includes the $975 million Super A terminal for American's exclusive use (DAILY, Nov. 26).
DOT has extended for the fourth time its deadline on action regarding possible bilateral violations by the government of Japan, this time through Dec. 30. Last July, Northwest said Japan violated the bilateral by refusing to allow the carrier to start Seattle-Osaka-Jakarta service.
American's recent proposal to code share with ALM Antillean Airlines "appears to be part of the ongoing American campaign to combine with its major competitors in regional markets to exclude potential competition," said TWA in a filing at DOT opposing the plan.
Corporate security managers are expressing growing concern about air travel and terrorism following the crash of TWA Flight 800, according to a survey by the American Society For Industrial Security. Nearly one-third of respondents say they are considering changing the way they handle corporate travel plans, the survey showed.
Aviation pioneer Elrey Jeppesen, 89, died Nov. 26 at his home in Englewood, Colo., following a short illness. He began his flying career at 16 with a pilot's license signed by Orville Wright.
Phoenix Over The Nile: A History of Egyptian Air Power, 1932-1994 by Lon Nordeen and David Nicolle. Recounts the origins, operational history and battle performance of the Egyptian Air Force. Smithsonian Institution Press; $49 hard cover. To order, call 1-800-782-4612.
As leverage to obtain renewal of its code share with Lufthansa into Russia, United wants DOT to prevent Khabarovsk Aviation Group (KAG) from code sharing with Aeroflot or any other carrier if the department grants KAG's application for U.S. route authority under its own banner. "The government of the Russian Federation has refused to renew United's authority to code share on Lufthansa's services to and from points in Russia, notwithstanding United's clear right to code share under the terms of the bilateral aviation agreement" with the U.S., United said.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said last week he was "very disappointed" that the Los Angeles City Council decided to disregard FAA's order to return $31.1 million to Los Angeles Airport (DAILY, Nov. 27) and said DOT and FAA "should immediately take the appropriate action to fully enforce the law." FAA has directed the city to return the funds to the airport, with interest, by today (DAILY, Nov. 25).
Although long-term fleet plans at American Trans Air are unclear as total banishment of Stage 2 aircraft approaches by the end of the decade, the carrier has started to hushkit part of its 727-200 fleet, which stands at 24 aircraft. A spokeswoman said the carrier would have eight aircraft fitted by yearend, with an undetermined number to follow in 1997. The charter and scheduled service carrier also operates 14 L-1011s and seven 757s.
Boeing and McDonnell Douglas officials confirmed the two companies are holding discussions concerning what a Boeing spokesman described as the "possibility of Douglas Aircraft Co. supporting some of our Commercial Airplane Group activities." A Douglas Aircraft spokesman said, "We are at a point in our history where we are exploring a lot of opportunities. We have had some discussions with Boeing." Boeing said the talks are "preliminary" and "cover whether Douglas could support" BCAG.
FAA announced Tuesday evening - just before an NBC Dateline report showing how easy it is to breach airport security - that it will issue immediately a rule permitting the agency to fine "any person or any firm, whether or not it is currently regulated by the FAA, for falsifying information the FAA requires in order to obtain unescorted access to secure airport areas." The rule change was announced on the day of an adverse news report on the television show NBC Dateline by an undercover reporter.
Air Holland applied for authority to operate charter combination service between The Netherlands and the U.S. and points beyond. Air Holland plans to start with wet-lease service for Icelandair from Keflavik Airport at Reykjavik, Iceland, to Orlando and New York Kennedy with 757-200s. (Docket OST 96-1986)
Atlantic Coast Airlines said it will install the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS), Flight Management System (FMS) and Global Positioning System (GPS) on its entire fleet of Jetstream aircraft next month. ACA operates 29 Jetstream 32s and 28 Jetstream 41s. The ACARS, FMS and GPS systems, manufactured by AlliedSignal, use VHF radio frequencies. The package "will elevate our safety in the most positive way," said Tom Moore, senior VP-operations and maintenance.
Delta Express was scheduled to add 20 more daily flights to Orlando yesterday from eight cities. The increased service by the low-fare unit of Delta includes six new daily flights to Washington Dulles, and flights to Boston, Hartford/Springfield, Indianapolis, Louisville, Newark, Philadelphia and Providence/Newport. Delta Express offers three fare levels - 21-day advance, seven-day and walk-up.
